Printing device bordering function and a method thereof

Abstract

A print device capable of printing a border, having a complicated shape, around characters input at a keyboard or other input device. Border data representing many varieties of border lines are stored in a border storage memory. Document data corresponding to the input characters are positioned with respect to the border data in a print buffer. Different types of border lines may be selected and combined to form a desired border around the input characters.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A print device, comprising: input means for inputting characters and instructions;   input data storing means for storing document data corresponding to the characters input by said input means;   display means for displaying a document represented by the document data stored in said input data storing means;   border storage means for storing border data including at least two blocks of border line;   designating means for designating at least one block of border line of the border data for association with the document data;   locating means for locating the at least one block of border line with respect to a character of the input characters;   border data expanding means for expanding the border data in accordance with the characters input to create the document data;   and   printing means for printing the document represented by the document data with the designated at least one block of border line.   
     
     
       2. A print device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said printing means comprises a thermal head having a plurality of heating elements, said printing means printing plural dot arrays corresponding to the document data on a print tape of transparent film. 
     
     
       3. A print device as claimed in claim 2, wherein said input means is a keyboard and said display means is an L.C.D. 
     
     
       4. A print device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: a print buffer coupled to the printing means;   a reference position memory for storing reference position coordinates corresponding to a location of dot pattern data in the print buffer;   a size memory for storing character dot numbers representing character size; and   an inter-character memory for storing dot numbers representing spacing between characters.   
     
     
       5. A print device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the input data storing means stores format codes corresponding to different blocks of border line. 
     
     
       6. A printer as claimed in claim 1, wherein said locating means adjusts the document data in a Y-direction to correspond to the height of a block of border line designated by the designating means. 
     
     
       7. A printer, comprising: a border memory for storing a plurality of blocks of border line;   a format selector for selecting at least one block of border line from the plurality of blocks of border line in said border memory;   an input unit for inputting at least one character into a text memory;   a buffer for storing data to be printed;   a locating controller for locating the at least one block of border line selected by said format selector relative to the at least one character input by said input unit in the buffer; and   a printing controller for printing the selected at least one block of border line relative to the at least one input character in the buffer.   
     
     
       8. A printer as claimed in claim 7, wherein said text memory stores a format code designated by said format selector representing a block of border line associated with a character input by the input unit. 
     
     
       9. A printer as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a transforming controller for expanding a selected block of border line in accordance with the number of characters input by the input unit, by transforming border line data corresponding to said selected block of border line. 
     
     
       10. A printer as claimed in claim 7, wherein said locating controller comprises a reference position coordinate memory, a pattern size memory for storing a size of a block of border line, a character size memory for storing a size of a character and an inter-character memory for storing a distance between characters, wherein said locating controller increments a reference position coordinate by a border size when said format selector selects one of said plurality of blocks of border line, and said locating controller increments a reference position coordinate by a character size and an inter-character distance in response to a format code and a character input by the input unit. 
     
     
       11. A printer as claimed in claim 7, wherein said locating controller adjusts a character in a Y-direction to correspond to the height of a selected block of border line. 
     
     
       12. A print device as claimed in claim 7, wherein said printing controller further comprises a thermal head having a plurality of heating elements, said printing controller printing plural dot arrays on a print tape of transparent film. 
     
     
       13. A printing method for a printer having an input unit for inputting characters and instructions and a border memory for storing a plurality of blocks of border line, the method comprising the steps of: selecting at least one block of border line from the plurality of blocks of border line in said border memory;   inputting at least one character into a text memory by said input unit;   instructing where each selected block of border line should be located with respect to a character input into the text memory;   disposing each selected block of border line and the respective input character in a buffer; and   printing each selected border line as disposed with the respective input character in the buffer.   
     
     
       14. A printing method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising the step of storing a format code representing each selected block of border line into the text memory, wherein each character input by the input unit and the format code representing each block of border line are stored in the text memory in the order of input of the each character and each format code. 
     
     
       15. A printing method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said disposing step comprises the step of adding a border size to a reference coordinate when a block of border line is selected, and further comprises the step of adding a character size and an inter-character distance to the reference coordinate when said input unit inputs a character, to dispose the selected block of border line accurately with respect to the character. 
     
     
       16. A printing method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said disposing step comprises the step of adjusting a character in a Y-direction to correspond to the height of the selected block of border line. 
     
     
       17. A printing method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising the step of expanding a selected block of border line, in accordance with the number of characters input by the input unit, by transforming the border line data corresponding to said selected block of border line.